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UP FRONTThursday 28 January 2016

US, China discuss North Korea, South China Sea                                                                                Analysis: Student arrest renews

MATTHEW LEE                     Kerry said.                       strong new resolution on                                    scrutiny for North Korean tours
CHRIS BODEEN                    Wang said China, which            North Korea, but also to ac-
Associated Press                is North Korea’s most im-         celerate talks on what that                                 ERIC TALMADGE
BEIJING (AP) — Top U.S. and     portant ally, chief trading       would entail.                                               Associated Press
Chinese officials sparred       partner and a key source          “It’s good to agree on the                                  TOKYO (AP) — An American university student’s arrest
Wednesday over how to           of economic assistance,           goal.                                                       in North Korea has rekindled questions about wheth-
deal with North Korea’s lat-    agreed on the need for a          But it’s not enough to agree                                er a small but steady trickle of U.S. tourists who go to
est nuclear weapons test        new resolution.                   on the goal, we believe                                     the country are unwittingly offering themselves up as
and ease tensions over ter-     But he suggested that Bei-        we need to agree on the                                     valuable pawns in a political game with Pyongyang
ritorial disputes in the South  jing would not support new        meaningful steps neces-                                     that can have serious repercussions for officials back
China Sea.                      penalties even though it          sary to get to the achieve-                                 in Washington who have to bail them out when things
U.S. Secretary of State John    has condemned the test-           ment of the goal to the ne-                                 go wrong.
Kerry and Chinese Foreign       ing. “Sanctions are not an        gotiations that result in de-                               U.S. tourism to North Korea is legal and virtually all
Minister Wang Yi met for        end in themselves,” he said.      nuclearization,” Kerry said.                                Americans who make the journey return home without
more than four hours and        “The new resolution should        Wang also took umbrage                                      incident.
                                                                                                                              But the detention of Otto Warmbier (WORM-bir), a
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, poses with Chinese President Xi Jinping prior to their meet-                        21-year-old University of Virginia economics major who
ing at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016. Kerry is in China on the                            had chosen to spend his New Year’s vacation in North
final leg in his latest round-the-world diplomatic mission.                                                                   Korea, comes at a particularly difficult, or opportune,
                                                                                                                              time, depending on how you choose to interpret it.
                                                                                           (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)  Just days after he was arrested, North Korea conduct-
                                                                                                                              ed what it said was its first H-bomb test. As Warmbier
said their discussions were     not provoke new tension           at U.S. complaints that                                     sits in detention, the United Nations Security Council
“constructive” and “can-        in the situation, still less de-  China is not doing as much                                  is mulling a new round of what are expected to be
did.” But at a joint news       stabilize the Korean Penin-       as it can with the leverage                                 heavy sanctions in response to that test.
conference, they present-       sula,” Wang said.                 it has on North Korea. He                                   According to Warmbier’s tour agent, Young Pioneer
ed sharply opposing posi-       Later Wednesday, the U.S.         noted that China’s posi-                                    Tours, he was almost on his plane home when officials
tions on the two issues.        ambassador to the United          tion has been consistent                                    pulled him aside, took him into a special room at the
Kerry acknowledged that         Nations,                          in opposing North Korea’s                                   Pyongyang airport and placed him under arrest for al-
“our differences will con-      Samantha Power, told              nuclear weapons program                                     legedly committing an as-yet-undisclosed hostile act
tinue to test us.” Still, he    reporters that countries          and supporting a diplomat-                                  against the state.
stressed that the world         “need to accelerate prog-         ic resolution to the matter.                                He is still under lock-and-key, possibly in the relative
benefits when the United        ress” on negotiating a U.N.       “For many years China                                       comfort of the Yanggakdo, a tourist hotel where his
States and China are able       resolution.                       has been working hard to                                    group had stayed that has previously been used to
to work together, including     Kerry noted that sanctions        implement these,” he said.                                  keep detainees until they are deported or more formal
on the Iran nuclear deal        had brought Iran to the           “We have delivered on our                                   legal measures are taken. North Korea says he is under
and climate change.             nuclear negotiating table.        obligation.”                                                investigation and acted with the “tacit connivance of
On North Korea, Kerry said      “More significant and im-         Kerry said China is North                                   the U.S. government and under its manipulation.”
the United States wanted        pactful sanctions were            Korea’s main link to the                                    That is an ominous detail for North Korea to offer.
new U.N. Security Council       put in place against Iran,        outside world, and that                                     Initial announcements by North Korea rarely say much
action that would impose        which did not have a nu-          it could do more to limit                                   about the actual crime, and linking it to the U.S. gov-
“significant new measures”      clear weapon than against         cross-border transactions                                   ernment in their first statement to the world through
to punish Pyongyang for its     North Korea, which does.”         that benefit North Korean                                   state-run media is highly uncommon. Though not
test this month and boost       “All nations, particularly        leader Kim Jong Un and his                                  a tourist, one more American, missionary Kim Dong
pressure on the North to re-    those who seek a global           government.                                                 Chul, believed to be a naturalized citizen of Korean
turn to disarmament talks.      leadership role, or have          Kerry also called on China                                  descent, is reportedly in North Korean custody along
“There’s been a lot of talk     a global leadership role,         to halt land reclamation                                    with a Canadian-Korean missionary who is serving a
about North Korea through       have a responsibility to          and construction of air-                                    life sentence. “We can’t comment on Mr. Warmbier’s
these past years. Now we        deal with this threat,” he        strips in disputed areas of                                 case at this time as we don’t feel it would be in his in-
believe is the time for ac-     said, referring to China.         the South China Sea. Those                                  terests, but every arrest that has occurred has, to our
tion that can bring North       Kerry said the sides agreed       steps have alarmed its                                      knowledge, been with context,” Troy Collings, one of
Korea back to the table,”       both on the need for a            smaller neighbors.q                                         the directors of Young Pioneer Tours, said in an email
                                                                                                                              Wednesday.
                                                                                                                              Without more information on the charges, it’s impos-
                                                                                                                              sible to gauge North Korea’s motives for throwing the
                                                                                                                              book at Warmbier or speculate about how difficult his
                                                                                                                              release might be. Despite the headlines and atten-
                                                                                                                              tion they garner, especially compared with problems
                                                                                                                              involving Chinese visitors, who are far more numerous
                                                                                                                              but rarely if ever jailed, actual arrests of U.S. tourists in
                                                                                                                              North Korea are extremely rare. And while North Ko-
                                                                                                                              rea might be lowering the bar for cases it chooses to
                                                                                                                              pursue, arrests are by no means random — virtually all
                                                                                                                              have come after violations of well-known North Korean
                                                                                                                              regulations on how tourists must conduct themselves.
                                                                                                                              But the real problems kick in over what happens next.
                                                                                                                              That’s when things tend to get political.
                                                                                                                              North Korea and the United States are still technically
                                                                                                                              at war and have no diplomatic relations. So gaining
                                                                                                                              an American’s freedom can and often does require
                                                                                                                              a senior U.S. official or well-known statesman to fly to
                                                                                                                              Pyongyang, hat in hand, to personally bail the detain-
                                                                                                                              ee out.q
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